EPT Deauville Day 1A: Late Quads Propel Feddersen to Late Lead

The first European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event of 2013 that is actually held in Europe-proper kicked off Sunday as the Casino Barriere at The Deauville International Centre played host to Day 1A of EPT Deauville. It was a solid turnout, as 307 players paid the €5,000 + €300 for their shot at glory. Leading the 165 survivors is Germany’s Jesper Feddersen, the proud owner of 188,900 chips.

Feddersen is one of those examples of why poker can be such an exciting and fascinating pastime. A man in only his third live tournament, Feddersen’s appearance in this tourney is a product of the internet poker age, as he qualified for his first-ever EPT event via PokerStars (not coincidentally, the European Poker Tour’s title sponsor). In fact, he told PokerNews.com that he “accidentally” registered for the online satellite, a fortuitous mis-click, indeed.

Our chip leader got to the top of the leaderboard right at the end of the night, in a hand more befitting of the internet game at which he usually plays. Betting all the way and watching Bulgarian Stelyan Georgiev call him every time, Feddersen took all of his opponent’s chips while holding 7♠-6♥ on a 3♠-6♠-5♠-6♦-6♣ board, good for the majestically rivered Quads. Georgiev appeared to have been (understandably) chasing both flush and open-ended straight draws, as he had A♠-4♥. Unfortunately for him, it ended up to be just Ace-high and he was out of the tournament.

That hand allowed Feddersen to leapfrog Patrick Schuhl, who led for most of the day. There were two hands that really did it for Schuhl on Sunday. The first came during level six when he was in a three-way all-in pot holding pocket Queens against Isaac Azoulay who had Aces and another player holding A-K. Schuhl spiked a Queen on the river to knock out both opponents and add over 30,000 chips to his stack. A bit before Feddersen’s big hand, Schuhl added another 30,000+ chips to his stack after betting through the river on a 5♦-A♦-9♠-7♠-T♥ board, eventually getting Fabrice Fort to bow out and surrender the pot.

Play has started in Day 1B of EPT Deauville as a new crop of players attempt to join the survivors from Day 1A in Tuesday’s Day 2. The tournament will run the rest of the week, culminating with final table play on Saturday.